St. Mary’s School of Piscataway

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Looking Ahead

† Sunday-Saturday, October 20-26 National Friends of Libraries Week

† Monday October 21 Enrollment Opens for 2020-21 SY Enroll before January 26 and lock in your 2019-20 tuition rate! Tuition goes up by 2% on January 27, 2020

† Monday-Friday, October 21-25 Scholastic Book Fair

† Thursday, October 24 Bring $1 and Wear PINK To raise money for 8th Grade!

† Friday, October 25 End of the 1st Quarter Deadline for 8th grade students to register for the HSPT

† Saturday, October 26 Support Our Soccer Teams! St. Mary’s vs. St. Columba @ home Pee Wee - 9:00 - 9:45 Small Field 1&2 - 10:00 - 11:00 Small Field 3&4 - 11:00 - 12:00 Small Field Varsity - 11:00 - 12:00 Big Field

† Monday, October 28 All School Mass

† Tuesday, October 29 Livescan Fingerprinting 4:30-6:30 Virtus Training in Parish Hall Protecting God’s Children for Adults 6:30-9:30

† Wednesday, October 30 Silver Diner Family Fun Night! (wear your Halloween costume) Please note that the date of this event changed from 10/29 to 10/30

† Thursday, October 31 Bring $1 & wear BLACK & ORANGE to raise money for 8th Grade! Early Dismissal 12:00 Parent/Teacher Conferences Report Cards E-Mailed Home

† Friday, November 1 All Saints Day Conference Day School Closed

† Saturday, November 2 Support Our Soccer Teams! St. Mary’s vs. St. John’s @ St. John’s Pee Wee - 10:00 - 10:45 1&2 - 10:00 - 11:00 3&4 - 11:00 - 12:00 Varsity - 11:00 - 12:00

† Sunday, November 3

Weekly Newsletter

October 18, 2019

Scholastic Book Fair October 21-25

Please mark your calendars for the Fall Book Fair October 21-25. The schedule is as follows:

Friday, October 18 - students will come home with wish lists. Monday, October 21- Friday October 25 8:00 am - 4:00 pm Book Fair

If you have any questions or are looking for something specific please feel free to contact the librarian, Angela Ingelido, at librarian@smsp.school. Look for your students wish list to come home today, October 18.

Wear PINK on October 24

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Many of us have been affected by this terrible disease. You may have suffered from breast cancer or have a loved one that has fought this type of cancer. St. Mary’s wants to show our support! On Thursday, October 24, students are encouraged to bring in at least $1 to donate to breast cancer research (larger donations are welcome). In exchange, students are allowed to be out of uniform to wear PINK. Please turn in your donations in an envelope with your child’s name on it and write “PINK” on the front. All monies collected will be donated to the Breast Cancer Research Fund. This charity gets an A+ rating by The American Institute of Philanthropy's Charity Watch.

Wear ORANGE and BLACK on October 31

Help the 8th Grade class raise money for their graduation field trip and other graduation related activities! On Thursday, October 31, students are encouraged to bring in at least $1 to donate to the 8th grade class (larger donations are welcome). In exchange, students are allowed to be out of uniform to wear ORANGE and BLACK. Please turn in your donations in an envelope with your child’s name on it and write “8th grade fundraiser” on the front. All monies collected will be donated to the 8th grade graduation activities fund.

Sign up for Lunch and Recess Duty

Some parents have inquired about volunteer opportunities during the school day. We would love some help during lunch and recess. We need help distributing food at lunch time and then assistance watching the children at recess. You must be Virtus cleared to do lunch and recess duty. Please do not sign up unless you are Virtus cleared or you will be turned away. Click on the link below to choose a date. You will receive an e-mail reminder 2 days before your sign up date. Remember, each family is required to complete at least 20 hours of volunteer service at the school each year.

Tuition Assistance Applications

The window for families to apply for tuition assistance for the 2020-21 school year began on October 1 and ends on December 6. The process requires that you submit tax documents and other forms. We strongly encourage every single St. Mary’s family apply for tuition assistance. There are two tuition assistance funds, one from the Archdiocese of Washington and one from St. Mary’s Parish. The amount of money that is distributed by the Archdiocese of Washington is partially determined by the number of tuition assistance applications they receive from our families. The more applications the Archdiocese of Washington receives, the more assistance we will be able to provide to all of our students. Even if you do not think your family qualifies for assistance, please apply anyway. We encourage all 8th grade students to apply, even if you decide not to attend to an ADW high school. If you have children in elementary and high school, you only have to apply once for all of your children. In addition to the money from the Archdiocese, we also have assistance available from St. Mary’s Parish. YOU MUST APPLY FOR TUITION ASSISTANCE FROM THE ARCHDIOCESE in order to be awarded assistance from St. Mary’s Parish. The admissions team will be very strict about this policy for the 2020-21 school year. You will receive several notices between now and December 6th. Thank you in advance for your attention to this.

Virtus Volunteer Training Class and Fingerprinting Here at

St. Mary’s on October 29!

We were able to secure a Virtus training session, Protecting God's Children for Adults, on Tuesday, October 29 from 6:30-9:30 pm here at St. Mary's Parish Hall. If you or one of your family members would like to volunteer at our school or chaperone on field trips, please be sure to have them attend this class. You must register in advance! Log in to your Virtus account (or create a new account) at www.VirtusOnline.org. In addition to the class, we also booked the company Prevent First to come out and do Livescan fingerprinting from 4:00-6:30 ahead of the class. The cost for

fingerprinting is $59 ($61 if paying with a credit card). Click HERE to register for

fingerprinting only. We will send out an e-mail reminder a few days before the fingerprinting session. We do not often have Virtus classes at our school, so this is a great opportunity to get both steps accomplished in one day. Remember, each family is required to complete at least 20 hours of volunteer service at the school each year and you must be Virtus cleared to participate. If you are unsure about your Virtus clearance status, please contact the school office.

Weekly Newsletter

October 18, 2019

10405 O'Donnell Place, Waldorf, MD 20603

Click Here to Sign Up for Lunch & Recess Duty